Senate GOP Pushes Big Tax Cut for Couples
Senate Republicans on Tuesday introduced legislation to cut taxes by $240 billion over 10 years for millions of couples who are paying Uncle Sam more simply because they are married.
“Life is not getting cheaper for millions of American families,” said Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “It’s only fair to let them keep more of their hard-earned money.”
The tax code’s “marriage penalty” forces an estimated 25 million couples, most of them in two-earner households, to pay higher income taxes than if they were single.
The Senate bill is similar in many ways to legislation passed by the House in February that would cut taxes by $182 billion over 10 years using projected budget surpluses. President Clinton, meanwhile, has threatened to veto the GOP bills and is pushing an alternative that targets relief to middle- and lower-income couples at a cost of $45 billion over 10 years.
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